This invention relates to hand tools. This invention relates to a hand tool which is a combination screwdriver and socket driver.
The hand tool art traditionally manufactured tool sets, such as screwdriver sets and socket wrench sets. These sets were comprised of multiple hand tools to accomplish different tool bit drive functions as well as to accomplish differently sized similar tool bit drive functions. Prior art commercial screwdriver sets would, typically, include from eight (8) to twenty-two (22) screwdrivers. Commercial socket wrench sets and tool bit drive sets required specialized mounting and storage for the large pluralities of socket drives and tool bit drives.
The art desired multiple tool bit drive combination tools to reduce the mounting and storage requirements. Rocca, U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,097 granted May 15, 1994, disclosed a complex multiple piece construction which provided a total of six (6) tool bit drive functions and two (2) nut driver means functions. Kozak, U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,775 granted Sep. 19, 1995, disclosed a multiple tool bit drive function of complex housing design. These complex designs provided limited multiple drive functionality.
One prior art combination screwdriver and socket driver is shown in attached FIG. 1. Prior art tool 10 is formed of a conventional handle 11 having at its proximate end 15, a well 12 for loosely holding up to six single-ended hexagonal body bit drives 13 (typical). A handle cap 14 is screwed onto the proximate end of 15 handle 11 to hold the loosely stowed bit drives 13 in well 12. A hexagonal shank or shaft 18 is fixedly held in handle 11 at handle distal end 19. A plurality of three double-ended socket drives 20, 21 and 28 are formed with hexagonal through holes 22, 23 and 24, respectively, so as to be slidably non-rotatably received on shank 18. The most distally disposed socket drive end 25 is available for socket drive use in turning handle 11. In the screwdriver operational mode (FIG. 1), one of the bit drives 13 is slidably non-rotatably received in the hexagonal socket through hole 24 for torque transmission. The flat end 26 of the operably disposed bit drive 13 abuts end 29 of shank 18. The FIG. 1 tool is generally a 6-in-1 screwdriver and a 6-in-1 socket driver, or at most, a 12-in-1 tool.
The FIG. 1 prior art tool has existed for man years but with limited commercial acceptance. The art desired a significantly more versatile screwdriver an socket driver combination. The present invention addresses that need and provides an improved multiple-in-1 screwdriver and socket driver combination hand tool.
The hand tool is a combination multiple drive screwdriver and socket driver. A plurality of 3 double-ended socket drives are slidably non-rotatably nested on the shank of the screwdriver, whereby the most distally disposed socket drive end is operable with turning the screwdriver handle. The handle is ergonomically designed with a plurality of contiguous parallel cylindrical compartments. The handle is of regular polygonal cross-section, preferably square, with an elongated cylindrical compartment disposed at each corner, and a large diameter centrally disposed elongated cylindrical compartment is contiguous with the corner compartments. In a square handle there are then four corner compartments and one contiguous central compartment. Each compartment is sized to slidably receive two bit drives, with each bit drive having a body and oppositely disposed tool bits. One additional double-ended bit drive is operably disposed at the distal end of the shank. Eleven double-ended bit drives are contained in the one tool. A removable handle cap is provided which is frictionally held to the proximate end of the handle. The handle cap is provided with a centrally disposed metal insert for slidably non-rotatable receiving one of the eleven double-ended bit drives for handle cap driver or stubby screwdriver use. The combination hand tool is a multiple-in-1 screwdriver, a multiple-in-1 handle cap driver or stubby screwdriver and a 6-in-1 socket driver.